America, said Sen. Katie Britt, the Republican Party’s most prominent spokesperson on the night of the State of the Union, "deserves better than a dithering and diminished leader."
Britt, the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama and the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the upper chamber of Congress, was tapped to deliver the GOP’s rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday, doing so from the kitchen of her home.
Despite the fact that Britt was chosen to deliver the official Republican rebuttal, the party's frontrunner for the presidential nomination, former President Donald Trump, posted his thoughts about the address in real time on his Truth Social platform, offering his opinions that his rival's speech was loud, untruthful and featured too much coughing.
Britt's response was an emotional one, seemingly designed to evoke such a response from viewers. It was an appeal, in many cases, to women and families, echoing then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan in asking Americans, "are you better off now than you were three years ago?"
The rebuttal began calling attention to the fact that she’s in her family kitchen, near her family’s dining table — then suggesting that the "American dream has turned into a nightmare for so many families."
She said that Biden "didn’t just create this border crisis, he invited it," and referred to her conversation with a woman who said she was repeatedly raped and trafficked by cartel members — crimes that she placed solely in the hands of Biden.
America, she said, has become a "nation in retreat," offering rival nations an opportunity to gain international standing. She mentioned Russian aggression in Europe (without mentioning Ukraine by name — an ally that has seen its funding become a political football for Republicans seeking more stringent border enforcement), and attacks by Iran and Iranian proxies, referring to ongoing turmoil in the Red Sea (without mentioning the Houthi rebels or American intervention in the region).
She also suggested a growing threat by TikTok, the social media service backed by Chinese tech company ByteDance, and highlighted Biden’s hypocrisy in banning the app from federal worker phones while having an account for his own campaign.
She later referenced the Republican party’s backing of in vitro fertilization, the practice of fertilizing human egg cells outside of a parent, then reintroducing those embryos into a uterus to develop. The procedure, which helps families experiencing fertility challenges, was in a legal grey area in Britt’s home state of Alabama as recently as Thursday, after the state’s supreme court ruled that embryos have the same rights as children. Alabama’s legislature on Thursday signed a law protecting IVF patients and providers from legal liability imposed by the ruling.
Britt smiled widely as she said Republicans "strongly support continued nationwide access" to the procedure, despite the fact that more than 100 House Republicans have signed on to back a bill that would declare that life begins at conception, and Senate Republicans blocked last week a bill that would have codified IVF protections.
She closed the rebuttal by appealing directly to mothers, telling them to "get in the arena," for the "sake of your kids and your grandkids."
Trump, for his part, said after Biden's speech was over: “That may be the Angriest, Least Compassionate, and Worst State of the Union Speech ever made. It was an Embarrassment to our Country!”
The former president complained, ironically in all caps, that “EVERY LINE IS BEING SHOUTED.”
Trump also made a few posts about Biden’s coughing during the speech, writing as the president exited the House Chamber: “Don’t shake his hand, he’s been coughing into it the entire night!”
Trump wrote “Whether the Fake News Media likes admitting it or not, there was tremendous misrepresentation and lies in that Speech.”
But the former president’s commentary throughout the night included its own share of disinformation. For instance, he alluded multiple times to fraud in the 2020 presidential election. He also claimed the failed bipartisan immigration deal would have “let at least 5,000 Migrants in a day” before triggering an automatic shutdown of the border. Under the agreement, the shutdown would have been implemented if 5,000 migrants attempted to enter unlawfully in a single day.
Trump also accused Biden of weaponizing the government against him, although there is no evidence to support that the president has had any role in the Justice Department’s decision to prosecute the former president over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents.
In other posts, Trump criticized Biden over the war between Russia and Ukraine, climate change policies and inflation.